The Mercedes driver set a time of 1:35.121 to claim his first ever pole position, more than half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren. But Michael Schumacher will start second after Hamilton takes his five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled change of gearbox—an all Mercedes (and German) front row.

Kamui Kobayashi will start third after putting in a blistering time for Sauber, and Kimi Raikkonen took fourth for Lotus. Jenson Button starts fifth with Mark Webber in sixth. Hamilton set the second-fastest time, but his penalty places him seventh.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the day was Sebastian Vettel missing out on Q3 for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2009.

The German was knocked out of the top 10 in the dying seconds of Q2, and though he was the last man over the line, he could not improve his position and will start 11th.

From 13th down, we have an unusual two-by-two lineup—the two Williams, Force Indias, Toro Rossos, Caterhams, Marussias and HRTs will start side by side.